Liberal Democratic Party chief Shinzo Abe raised the most funds among party leaders last year but Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who heads the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, only placed sixth, according to government data. Abe, a former prime minister who was appointed president ...

In October, a group of influential Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers led by former transport minister Toshihiro Nikai published a 746-page book that remains little known to the public. The story: the hidden pump-priming plan the LDP might adopt should it return to power in ...

The main election slogan of the Liberal Democratic Party, which polls say will prevail in the Dec. 16 general election, is “Restoring Japan,” underlining its determination to reclaim the power it lost three years ago. But which version of Japan does the LDP plan ...

Goshi Hosono, the handsome policy chief of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, is one of the few politicians who has retained his popularity despite predictions the party is headed for a crushing defeat in the Dec. 16 Lower House election. Hosono is the ...

In Lewis Carroll’s classic “Through the Looking Glass,” Humpty Dumpty declares, in a rather scornful tone, that words mean what he chooses them to mean, no more no less. When it comes to understanding their positions on the future of nuclear power, voters must ...

With campaigning for the Lower House election set to kick off in a few days, the leaders of 11 parties gathered for a televised discussion Friday that saw most of the questions thrown at Liberal Democratic Party chief Shinzo Abe, whose party leads the ...

The Democratic Party of Japan rode to power in 2009 and ended decades of Liberal Democratic Party rule by promising to turn politicians into the true decision-makers and end the practice of bureaucrats calling the shots on behalf of ministries instead of the people. ...

Revising the war-renouncing Constitution is not an urgent matter and neither the majority of the public nor the international community is supporting Japan’s recent rightward tilt led by the Liberal Democratic Party, said Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of LDP ally New Komeito. In the face ...

The Tokyo High Court has rejected a suit filed by lawyers seeking an injunction to halt the Dec. 16 general election on grounds the Supreme Court has ruled the vote weight disparity between constituencies is in “a state of unconstitutionality.” “There are no (applicable) ...

Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe proposed Thursday using retired Self-Defense Forces vessels to defend the uninhabited Senkaku Islands. Retired vessels and SDF reserves should be transferred to the Japan Coast Guard to protect the islets, he said in a Tokyo speech. “It will ...

Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada said Thursday her just-launched political party plans to include annual child benefits worth ¥310,000 per head in its policy pledges for the Dec. 16 House of Representatives election. Kada told reporters in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, that the party, Nippon Mirai ...